Rule Modifications
These are the various modifications to the standard set of rules presented in the Dresden RPG. Lower Power Levels Not everyone is a heroic-level character. Whether through inexperience, environment, or nature, some characters are simply less-powerful than the starting player character. These characters begin play with less Refresh and Skill Points than normal. Higher Power Levels Some characters are more than just heroic, with skills and abilities that are simply legendary. Character Advancement System To keep it clean, characters earn experience in the form of Game Sessions. Each Game Session counts towards the Milestones for a character's achieves. Maximum Skill Level The maximum skill level a character may have is derived by their total number of Skill Points: Improved Fortitude The world of Shadowrun is one where conflicts occur frequently, leading to a hardy breed of folk able to take more Stress than standard Dresden characters. The base Stress for all characters with 20 Skill Points or more is 2, with relevant Skills adding directly to the Stress total (minimum of 1). For characters with less than 20 Skill Points their base Stress is 1, again modified by relevant Skills. Characters still gain an additional Mild Consequence based on higher Skill Ranks. Improved Weaponry Weapons have had to evolve to keep pace with the deadly spellfire that can come flying out from any Wage Mage out there. As such, weapons follow this guideline for Weapon Rating: Additionally, Breath Weapon and Claws powers provide Weapon Rating 3 rather than just 2. The State of Armor While weaponry is stronger, Armor technology can hardly keep up. Still, having body armor might make the difference between insult and injury. Income While Resources represent a character's general level of material comfort, Shadowrunners get compensation above and beyond this for the work they do. This is represented by a currency called Coin. The precise form of Coin is not significant in most cases: it might be actual precious metal in coin form, gemstones, rare magical ingredients, encrypted credits, or anything else which is valuable and relatively easy to transfer. Whatever the form, when Shadowrunners are being paid for their work, they receive it in Coin. Job Cost Guidelines While ultimately a job is worth what someone is willing to pay for it, there are some rough guidelines that can be used to get an idea of a job's general cost. Upkeep Shadowrunning is rewarding, but also taxing on those who live the life. As such, at the start of an adventure, each character must pay an Upkeep Cost in Coin equal to their Total Skills - 20 - their Resource Rating. If they do not have the Coin to pay they must either get a loan or make up the difference by converting over Fate Points to Coin. Converting Coin to and from Fate Points At the start of an adventure characters may convert any available Coin to Fate Points at the rate of 3 Coin per Fate Point. Conversely, they may also convert Fate Points to Coin at the same inverse rate. During play this same conversion can occur, but requires the character spend a scene to draw upon an aspect and make an appropriate Skill Roll equal to the number of Coin being converted to or from Fate Points. The Skill used will vary based on the character and aspect: it might be a simple Resources roll for taking funds from a bank account, a Guns roll for someone stocking up on firepower and ammunition, a Lore roll for a mage brushing up on spellpower, or even a Scholarship roll for a Decker tuning up their hardware. Hexing Shadowrun is a world where magic and technology co-exist. Though the Illuminati and the Technocracy certainly do not agree on their vision for the world, magic and technology itself cooperate just fine with one another. (They in fact have many things in common, including an obsessive appreciation for the value of Gold.) No Hexing applies, nor is Deliberate Hexing an option for most (though it is still possible through the Mage Static presented in the Dresden RPG). Character Death Characters can only be permanently dispatched when an opponent spends a fate point to invoke an aspect for the kill. Otherwise, enemies vanquished in battle will still be taken out of the conflict, but will ultimately live to see another day. Dead to Rights Sometimes you manage to get the drop on a target, and are ready to kill them ... if they don't cooperate: you have them Dead to Rights. First, to have a target Dead to Rights, you must establish a Maneuver on them to put them in a position to be threatened with immediate physical violence. This may involve taking them by surprise, overpowering them, or perhaps even out-gunning them in a showdown. After the Maneuver is established, you must spend a fate point to invoke an aspect to establish Dead to Rights. From there, maintaining a Dead to Rights requires a Supplemental Action each turn to maintain, and does require some focus on your behalf. However, you do not suffer the Supplemental Action penalty, and gain an additional +2 on any rolls, made against the target of the Dead to Rights. The target can spend their own fate points to invoke aspects to counter the Dead to Rights as well, even without removing the Maneuver used in the first place. If the aggressor decides they need to carry out the threat of violence they must roll initiative vs the target of Dead to Rights, but do still gain the +2 bonus on this roll and their subsequent enactment of their threat. If they hit their target they also apply +2 Weapon Rating to the attack again above the bonus from the Dead to Rights. However, if they miss, the target is no longer subject to the Dead to Rights.